Cleveland Cavaliers should feel inspired by Phoenix’s success in Orlando

The Cleveland Cavaliers should be feeling a burst of optimism after witnessing the Phoenix Suns’ success in the NBA bubble.

Rebuilding a franchise from the ground up isn’t easy. The Cleveland Cavaliers know this all too well as repeated rebuilds have left the franchise in shambles following the losses of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Nonetheless, the Cavs should be looking at the Phoenix Suns and their path to redemption in the NBA bubble for inspiration as to how quickly a reboot can take place.

If you asked us a few months ago, nobody would have predicted the Suns would have a chance to sneak into the playoff picture. Even before the NBA bubble opened up the door to a potential play-in tournament between the eight and nine seeds – few expected the Suns to be one of the squads battling for a postseason berth. Bleacher Report even predicted that Phoenix would go 0-8 in the bubble. Instead, the Suns did the exact opposite – being the only team in the NBA bubble to win all eight of their seeding games.

Even though they fell just one shot from Caris LeVert short of reaching the play-in tourney, this string of games has completely shifted the perspective on where the Suns are at in their rebuild – going from a franchise that appeared to be years behind to one that is on the cuff of becoming a legit threat to be in the playoffs for the next decade.

This coming of age story for Phoenix has mostly been due to the meteoric rise of Devin Booker. He has snuffed any criticism of being an empty-stats player – posting incredible averages of nearly 30 points per game in the bubble. However, enough credit can’t be given to the rest of the Suns’ supporting cast who have stepped up in every way this season.

Kelly Oubre Jr. has had a career-best year with the Suns, posting close to 20 points per game. Meanwhile, Mikal Bridges has arrived as a borderline elite defender and Cam Johnson is sprouting into a deadeye 3-point marksman. Combine this with a dominant paint presence in DeAndre Ayton and a crafty veteran point guard like Ricky Rubio and it’s honestly surprising the Suns had such a poor regular season before entering Orlando.

Like the Suns in the NBA bubble, the Cleveland Cavaliers may rise from nowhere

But, again, to reiterate this point – few people expected the Suns to be where they are now.  Many thought they didn’t even deserve an invitation to the bubble, to begin with. Regardless, they defied expectations and this should offer a great deal of optimism for the Cavaliers. Years of disappointment and failed draft picks can quickly turn into success if the pieces fall together at the right time.

If there is one thing the Cavaliers have in their arsenal, it’s young assets. In addition to the Rising Star Collin Sexton, Cleveland has a promising young guard in Kevin Porter Jr. and last year’s fifth overall pick, Darius Garland. These three have yet to show much chemistry together but that could change in the future with a bit of hard work and a lot of luck.

Sexton was on a streak of five-straight 25+ point games before the season ended and Porter was just beginning to hit his stride. Garland was dishing out 5.0 assists per game since January and looked much more comfortable towards the back half of his rookie season. Though they each had their problems, these little signs of hope are something that they can grow on for next year.

All it took was one eight-game stretch to reverse the narrative on the Suns’ rebuild. Could the same happen for Cleveland one day? It certainly won’t be under the same circumstances but the Cavaliers have stockpiled so many young players and draft picks for the future – it should only be a matter of time before something finally clicks and the Cavs begin playing competitive basketball once again.